"I believe that if you work hard and work full time, you should not be condemned to live in poverty," Cuomo said in a press release. "Yet millions of families nationwide continue to be left behind by an insufficient minimum wage — and it's time that changed."

Connie Razza, the director of strategic research at the Center for Popular Democracy, said to NBC News that this wage increase is "exactly the kind of steps that governments and mayors can be taking right away, even as we move to raise the minimum wage for all workers through legislative or electoral means."

"Today in New York, we are leading by example and creating an economy that is defined by opportunity, not inequality," Cuomo said in a press release. "We are restoring the fairness and economic justice that built the American dream and standing up for what's right.